Introduction

I'm starting a new part of my life and I'm looking forward to keeping track of my journey. I need a place to log and keep track of my upcoming adventures...what better place than a blog?

I'm 23, a recent college graduate, recently married, and will soon be moving back home to Colorado to start on my Ph.D. at CU Boulder. "I'm just a small town girl..." from the amazing song by Journey is only a description of where I started. I grew up in Yuma County, CO (that's right, not even a city) on a small ranch with my brother Josh and parental units Dennis and Dee. It's farm country my friends; where sports, the size of your new tractor, and the weather are the main topics of conversation. I grew up riding horses, moving cattle, showing steers, playing sports, and graduated high school with 11 other students (big class for Liberty). It's always fun to tell all of my coworkers about where I grew up because the common question is "How did the farm girl work her way into NASA?" The answer is easy, ranch/farm girls know how to work. We don't complain when our steers drag us through the dirt in the show ring. We simply stand up (once the steer decides to stop running), dust off, and walk away with a smile....it's all part of the game. Sure, the work in the field of science and spacecraft is a different game, but if you work hard enough at anything you do you will win (eventually).

I'm at a point in my life that I've never experienced...I don't know what I want to do with my future! Obviously I'm pursuing the academic path, but I'm not sure if I'm capable of picking just ONE topic for my Ph.D. thesis work. I always thought I wanted to start out with planetary atmospheres, but I can't see myself sitting in front of a computer modeling every single day. So instead, maybe I will explore the Earth's atmosphere and eventually find a way to relate it to other planets. Who knows, maybe I can move my Earth field work to Mars before my life is over.

So now after covering the past and the future...the present seems so uninspiring but I digress. I got married to my wonderful husband Casey last May, but unfortunately have spent more time away from him than with him since then. Two days after the honeymoon, I went to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the Inspiration Summer Team Internship for 10 weeks. We worked on a mission known as HyspIRI (http://dsm.gsfc.nasa.gov/hyspiri.html), an Earth science decadal survey mission to study ecosystem and climate change. It's a great learning opportunity, professionally and personally, for any student that is trying to learn as much as possible about mission design and the science behind it. I returned to Huntsville in the fall for my last semester, earning a Bachelor's Degree in Physics in December. I learned in January that I was not cut out to be a temporary house wife and now I'm back at JPL for another 11 weeks working on the same mission. I'm learning more than I thought possible about MODIS cloud mask data, trying to reach an understanding of how clouds might interfere (block the view of the instrument) with the science capabilities of the mission. The work is outside of my normal realm, but this gives me a chance to grow as a young scientist.

I will soon be chasing tornadoes across the U.S. plains...but more on that later.
Until next time...I leave you with a quote and some fun Mars facts.

"Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, don't put it off."
Ellen DeGeneres

http://www.marsnews.com/focus/mars/